This sweet pasta dish is reminiscent of kugel, a baked Jewish pudding or casserole most commonly made from egg noodles. My Sweet Raisin Pasta is a wonderful way to incorporate some of kugel's ingredients and shorten the cooking time to make a quick and easy dinner.

This is a big crowd pleaser with kids because the creamy sweetness of the sauce clings to each piece of pasta. The cinnamon and raisins and hint of vanilla make this delicious dinner feel almost like dessert!

Ingredients

8 ounces dry buckwheat soba noodles*

1 cup half and half

1/3 cup raisins

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons Mascarpone

1 tablespoon chopped, dried apricots

Preparation

Serves 4

Cook the soba in a large pot of boiling, salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, about 8 minutes. Reserve half a cup of the water, drain the pasta in a colander, and rinse with cold water. Return them to the pot with the reserved water.

In a small sauce pan, over low-medium heat, warm the half and half with the raisins. Cook until the raisins are tender, about five minutes. Add the vanilla, cinnamon, sugar and salt, and simmer for another couple minutes. Add the Mascarpone and cook just unti it melts and becomes incorporated into the cream.

Pour this sauce over the soba and stir to combine. Season to taste if necessary with salt and brown sugar and sprinkle the apricots over the top.

*I like the buckwheat flavor of the soba with the sweet raisin sauce, and it's perfect for my family as my son and husband are gluten-free. (Not all buckwheat pasta is gluten-free, so check the ingredient list!) This dish is also absolutely fantastic with big, wide egg pasta!

Valentina's passion is food, and she loves spending time in her "kitchen retreat," as she refers to that room in her house. Valentina develops recipes for creative and comforting food that works perfectly for casual entertaining. Both her recipes and food photography have been featured many times on popular food websites and in print. Valentina shares her beautiful photographs as well as new and interesting recipes almost daily on her blog, Cooking on the Weekends.

Outside the worlds of food and photography, Valentina's other passion is her family (including her two young boys, her husband and her puppy, Maple.)

To learn more about Valentina and where her work has been featured, visit her About page at Cooking On The Weekends.